USA > Missouri > Lincoln County > History of Lincoln County, Missouri, from the earliest time to the present > Part 34
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the head. Several other witnesses were examined, nearly all of whom testified that Morgan Show was generally regarded as a bad and dangerous man, and that Marshall Show was regarded as a quiet and peaceable citizen. The defendant claimed that when left alone in the room with his brother Morgan, he (Morgan) first attempted to shoot, and that he ( Marshall ) acted in self-defense. Be that as it may, the latter was acquitted, and there the whole affair ended.
KILLING OF J. F. M. BROWN.
On the night of the 17th day of February, 1882, J. F. M. Brown, while in a state of intoxication, was knocked down on the sidewalk near the southwest corner of the Laclede Hotel, in Troy. The following day he died. A coroner's inquest was held, and the following verdict rendered by the jury: "That J. F. M. Brown came to his death by wounds received in a difficulty with John E. Worsham, on the 17th of February, 1882, in the town of Troy, Lincoln County, Mo. The precise manner in which said wounds were inflicted is unknown to the jury." At the follow- ing term of the Lincoln Circuit Court Worsham was indicted for the killing of Brown, charging that in the heat of passion and without design he struck Brown on the head and knocked him down, thus causing his death, which resulted the next day. Wor- sham was finally tried for the offense on the 6th day of April, 1883, and the verdict of the jury was "not guilty." At the time of this unfortunate affair Worsham was clerking at the La- clede Hotel, and was aggravated by the ill-conduct of the un- fortunate man.
MURDER OF MORDECAI W. WILKINSON.
On the morning of July 17, 1883, at about 1 o'clock, Morde- cai W. Wilkinson, living about half a mile north of Elsberry, was shot and killed while lying in his bed. The only persons known to have been in the house at the time were Mr. Wilkinson and his wife, Maggie, and William Wesley Gibson. Two or three colored persons slept in a house in the same yard. After the murder was committed, Mr. Gibson gave the alarm to James Evans and others who lived near by. A coroner's inquest was
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held by J. W. Ellis, a justice of the peace. Dr. W. A. Hemphill, of Elsberry, and Dr. Kerr were called to examine the wounds of the murdered man, and Dr. Hemphill took down the evidence at the inquest. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that "the deceased came to his death by a shot from a shotgun loaded with buckshot, in the hands of an unknown person."
Circumstances soon caused suspicion to rest upon the parties heretofore named, who were in the house with Mr. Wilkinson. The body of the murdered man was disinterred, and a post- mortem examination was made by Dr. W. A. Hemphill and Dr. Kerr, and several shots were found within it besides the one found on examination at the coroner's inquest. On the 21st of the same month, Prosecutor Jeptha Wells filed his affidavit before George W. Colbert, a justice of the peace, implicating William Wesley Gibson with the murder. Upon this, a warrant was issued and placed into the hands of Sheriff Snethen, who exe- cuted it by arresting Gibson and lodging him in jail at Troy. On Saturday following he was arraigned before Squire Colbert on charge of murder. Jeptha Wells appeared for the State, and Messrs. R. H. Norton and Nat. C. Dryden for the defendant. Upon agreement, July 30 was appointed as the day for prelimin- ary examination.
On the day appointed the prisoner was arraigned for trial. Prosecutor Jeptha Wells was assisted in behalf of the State by Hon. Marshall F. McDonald, of St. Louis, and Howard S. Parker, of Troy. The defendant was represented as before by Norton & Dryden. The State made a formidable array of circumstan- tial evidence to establish the guilt of the prisoner. Some of the strong points in the evidence were, that when the neighbors as- sembled at the house of Wilkinson, on the call of Gibson, imme- diately after the murder was committed, the bed in which Gibson claimed to have been sleeping when he heard the report of the murderer's gun was made up and did not have the appearance of having been used that night; and the side of the murdered man's bed, where his wife was presumed to sleep, did not have the appearance of having been used that night. Mrs. Wilkinson swore, at the coroner's inquest, that she was in bed when her husband was shot-that the first she knew of the affair she heard
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the dog bark, and after that she went to sleep. Prior to this, though, Gibson had stated to one of the persons present that the dog did not bark. The State proved that when Mrs. W. said "the first she knew of the affair she heard the dog bark," Gibson, in a low whisper, said to her, "Hold on there; you are too fast."
Other witnesses testified to certain conversations, some of them with Gibson about a criminal intimacy which was alleged to have existed for the last two years between Mrs. W. and himself. The State also produced in evidence the will of Wilkinson, made a short time before his death, whereby he bequeathed to William Wesley Gibson, the defendant (who was his nephew), a note on a certain party for $800, and a lot of farming implements, and that after certain other legacies specified in the will were paid, all the residue of his estate, both personal and real, of whatso- ever nature, should go to his wife. This latter would amount to several thousand dollars. The State also proved that both the wife of the murdered man and the defendant knew of the con- tents of the will.
On the part of the defendant, evidence was given that just after the murder was committed, an unknown man was seen going from the house, and that the bed in which Gibson slept was made up after the murder was committed and before the neighbors arrived. The evidence was voluminous, and space will not admit of further recital of it here.
Wilkinson had raised the defendant Gibson, the latter being a nephew, or half-nephew of the former. He (Wilkinson) was a middle-agod man when he married his wife. Her maiden name was Maggie Elsberry, and her age at date of marriage was twenty-one years. He had been ailing during the spring of 1883, and was sick at the time he was murdered. At the con- clusion of the trial before Squire Colbert, Gibson was remanded to jail to await the action of the grand jury. At the following fall term of the circuit court he was indicted for the murder, but was not tried until in January following. In this trial the State was represented by Prosecutor Jeptha Wells, M. F. McDonald, D. P. Dyer, Howard S. Parker and David A. Ball, and the defendant by his former counsel, Norton & Dryden, assisted by
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Josiah Creech. The jurors before whom the defendant was tried were J. W. Owen, W. N. Wright, A. J. Powell, F. M. Gear, William Dixon, T. J. Pollard, William Smith, P. Layne, M. W. Lindsay, G. W. Cohea, W. B. Morris and George Bridges.
The evidence adduced was substantially the same as that given on the preliminary trial. The argument of counsel com- menced on Wednesday morning and continued until Friday at noon. The evidence against the prisoner was wholly circumstan- tial. After the case was submitted the jury retired and remained out about one hour, and then returned a verdict of " not guilty." This was a great surprise to many people, and much indignation was manifested.
Indignation Meetings .- On the 23d of January, a few days after Gibson was acquitted, a large number of citizens assembled in the schoolhouse at Elsberry, organized a meeting, and " Re- solved, That the guilt of no party was ever more clearly proven by circumstantial evidence than that of Wesley Gibson for the murder of M. W. Wilkinson." Another resolution of this meet- ing censured Sheriff Snethen in severe terms, charging him with acting under undue influence in selecting the men from whom the jury was drawn and empaneled. Another resolution was as follows: " Resolved, That we believe it would be policy for the Legislature to authorize the county courts to select all special as well as regular juries, and thus put it out of the power of unscrupulous attorneys, by means of flexible and unworthy sheriffs, to convert a trial by jury into a contemptible farce." Other resolutions expressive of the indignation of the members of this meeting were passed. The next week Sheriff Snethen replied to the published resolutions of this meeting through the medium of the press. vindicating his conduct, and claiming that the jury was drawn from the best citizens of the county. He also denounced the resolutions relating to his conduct as " wicked, poisonous, libelous, and as a mass of falsehoods as black as hell." This led to further controversy in the papers. Another indigna- tion meeting was held in the schoolhouse at Auburn, on February 2 following the trial, attended by about 150 persons. Resolutions in regard to the Gibson trial, similar in their nature to those passed by the Elsberry meeting, were adopted and passed.
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In the indictment found against Gibson, Maggie Wilkinson, wife of the murdered man, was also indicted and charged with aiding, abetting and assisting Gibson in the commission of the felony. Her case was continued until the April term of court following the acquittal of Gibson, and then nolle prosequied by the State. The trial of Gibson was undoubtedly the most excit- ing one ever held in Lincoln County, and his acquittal probably caused the greatest indignation. A theory is entertained by some persons that the negro male-servant, who usually slept in the out-house, at the residence of Wilkinson, assisted in the mur- der, and actually did the shooting at the instigation of the other parties implicated.
MURDER OF CAROLINE THORNHILL, COLORED.
In November, 1884, Caroline Thornhill was found dead in her bed, at her residence in Troy. A coroner's inquest was held over her dead body, and the verdict of the jury was that she came to her death, on the night of November 6, by being struck on the top and back of her head with an ax, in the hands of her husband, Green Thornhill. On the 12th day of the same month, court being then in session, Thornhill was indicted for the murder, arraigned for trial, and plead guilty as charged, and thereupon was sentenced, by Judge Robinson, to the peniten- tiary for the term of "during his natural life."
KILLING OF HENRY TURNER.
Early in December, 1884, Henry Turner and George W. Sit- ton met in a saloon in Elsberry, Lincoln Co., Mo., and quarreled about a settlement. Turner called Sitton a liar, and in turn Sit- ton knocked Turner down, and stamped him on the breast and stomach. Turner was assisted from the floor by parties who were present, and he and Sitton, both being intoxicated, made friends, and the latter treated the crowd. That evening the town marshal assisted Turner into the caboose attached to the north- bound freight train, bound for Dameron, his home. The train moved while he was getting on, and he slipped and fell so that the wheels tore off a portion of the calf of his left leg. Tur- ner died on Friday, was buried on Saturday, and was disinterred
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on Sunday. A coroner's inquest was held, and Drs. Lee, Kerr and Hemphill made a post-mortem examination, and declared that in their opinion the wound of the leg did not cause his death. The inquest was held by J. W. Ellis, a justice of the peace, acting as coroner. The jury, on this occasion, found that " the deceased, Henry Turner, came to his death by being stamped on the chest and bowels by George W. Sitton." A warrant was issued for the arrest of Sitton, and placed in the hands of Constable A. W. Farmer, who executed it by arresting the accused, and taking him before Squire J. W. Ellis on the 8th day of the month. Sitton was released on bond of $500 for his reappearance on the 10th of the month. He then appeared with his attorney, Nat. C. Dryden, and upon application was granted a change of venue to Squire G. W. Colbert, at Troy, and was held to appear before that officer on the 13th of the month, for trial. The preliminary exam- ination was closed before Justice Colbert on the 19th, and, the Court finding the evidence insufficient for conviction, acquitted and discharged the defendant. So it was not decided whether the whisky, or the injury received from Sitton, or the wound re- ceived at the train caused Turner's death. Probably all combined contributed to that sad result. This is another argument against saloons and intemperance.
HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE.
About 4 o'clock on the morning of March 4, 1885, Stephen Coose, after having set up with Louis Coster, returned home to his father's house, near Silex, and kindled and started a fire. His brother, Horatio, got up, observed the time, and went back to bed. They quarreled, and Stephen shot Horatio and then shot him- self, both shots being fatal. Stephen died about 7 o'clock A. M., and Horatio about 3 P. M.
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CHAPTER XIL.
MILITARY ITEMS.
At the time of the first settlement of the territory composing Lincoln County, the country here was commonly called New Spain. [See State History. ]
After being ceded to the United States it was temporarily assigned to the government of the Territory of Indiana, of which Gen. William Henry Harrison was governor, with seat of gov- ernment at Vincennes. On the 21st day of December, 1804, Gov. Harrison commissioned Christopher Clark a captain of volunteers, and he was sworn into office February 9, 1805. Clark's company used to muster at Zumwalt's Spring, since known as Big Spring Mills, near Flint Hill. This was perhaps a central point, but the chief attraction was the whisky that was made from Adam Zumwalt's two distilleries.
In 1824 Peter Yates gave bond to the county court in the sum of $1,000 as paymaster of the Eleventh Regiment, First Division, Missouri Militia.
MUSTERS.
One of the first musters of the militia in Lincoln County, for the purpose of drilling, took place in a little patch of cleared ground around Philip Sitton's spring, which is just below the one known as the old Perry Parks Spring. This was some time before the Black Hawk War. Henry Watts, who lived about two miles from Louisville, was captain. It took the whole northwest part of the county, including the Forks of Cuivre, to make up his company. The general musters of the militia in those days were held ostensibly for the purpose of teaching the settlers the tactics of military drill, but for this purpose they were an entire failure. As a rule the officers, with only a few exceptions, knew very little about military tactics, consequently they could not make it interesting for the men, and the men having no relish for the exercise, the result was that the musters on "general training day" were usually turned into fun and frolic, and no inconsiderable amount of twenty-five cents per-gallon whisky
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would be consumed, and frequently there would be a few rounds of " fisticuffs." Wrestling, racing, shooting at a mark and other amusements usually accompanied, and thus " training day " was a day of sport. Samuel Howell, a prominent old settler, mustered in the militia company of Capt. William Brunk, which was afterward commanded by Capt. William Barnes. He and his neighbors, Armstrong Kennedy and Thomas East, were drafted during the Black Hawk War, and were equipped and ready to join Gen. Scott's army when orders for disbandment came. Mr. Howell was also enrolled at the call of the Governor for the war known as the Iowa War, which grew out of a dispute between the State of Missouri and the Territory of Iowa about the location of the boundary dividing these commonwealths. The battalion raised and organized here for that anticipated war was never called into active service. Though troops were assembled on both sides of the line, the Iowa War never resulted in a clash of arms, the question being settled by the action of Congress and the supreme court of the United States. This battalion was commanded by Henry Watts, who now enjoyed the title of colonel. John S. Besser and Jonathan Riggs were captains under him. Ezekiel Downing was a candidate for captain, but was defeated by one of the individuals mentioned.
The Sioux Indians were allowed to remain here until about five years after the termination of the Black Hawk War. About 1831 or 1832 Col. David Bailey, who was the agent of the General Government for the removal of the Seneca Indians from Ohio to the Indian Territory, was encamped for several months in Monroe Township, in this county, with the whole tribe.
THE " SLICKER " WAR.
The following is the full history of this war, as related by Dr. Joseph A. Mudd:
"During the years 1843, 1844 and 1845 there raged in this county what was known as the 'Slicker' War. The term origi- nated elsewhere, probably in Benton County, about the year 1841, and came from the peculiar mode of punishment inflicted by the regulators-whipping with hickory withes, or 'slicking,' as the backwood parlance of that day termed it. An organized
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band of counterfeiters and horse and cattle thieves existed in many counties of this and other western States, and about the period mentioned above the people of the eastern part of the county found it necessary to organize for the protection of their property, so extensive were their depredations. It has been said that the parties who operated in this county sold 1,200 horses, during a single season, at one sale stable in St. Louis. Of course not all these were taken from this county. Their operations in beef cattle were on as large a scale. Sometimes the thieves would be taken with the stolen property in their possession, but would always manage to have enough convenient witnesses on hand to secure acquittal, and would march off with the stock before its owner's eyes. This aroused the greatest in- dignation, which was heightened by the fact that the prevalence of counterfeit money, both metal and paper, seriously affected the transaction of business. A company of regulators was organized, with James Stallard, of Hurricane Township, as captain. Some of the very best men of the eastern half of the county went into it. Brice Hammock drew up its constitution and by-laws. Had the spirit of these been strictly followed some bloodshed and much ill-feeling might have been avoided. Some inexcusable excesses were committed, partly the result of the excitement of the times, but more from the fact that a few unprincipled men took the opportunity, either as active members of the organiza- tion or as pretended friends, to settle personal grudges.
" When the evidence against a suspected person became satis- factory to the regulators, such person was either 'slicked ' or ordered to leave the county by a given date, or both, and the penalty for a refusal or a failure to leave was either 'slicking ' or death, according to the merits of the case. The principals all fled the county. John Plummer, who was notified to leave, and was preparing to do so, went to Troy on the very day on which his period expired, and on the way home was shot and killed, it probably not having been known that he intended to leave. Several against whom suspicion was not very strong had their time extended by reason of sickness in family, or other sufficient cause. James Turnbull refused point blank to leave. Turnbull was a very peculiar man, but at this day nobody doubts that he
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was honest. The cause of suspicion against him was that a notorious thief and counterfeiter, Hal. Grammar, was intimate with his son Ezekiel, and used sometimes to stop at his house. It is not thought that Turnbull was aware of Grammar's real character. Turnbull lived on Bob's Creek, in Section 32, Town- ship 49, Range 2 east, on land that he bought, in 1840, from Dominique Francois Burthe, of New Orleans, and Marguerette Susanne Delor Sarpy Burthe, widow of the Baron Andre Burthe d'Anelet, of Paris, France. The house was a solid log structure, and was generally called Turnbull's fort. When the 'Slickers ' came to enforce their demands, Turnbull and one of his daughters went out to dissuade them from their purpose, declaring the innocence of the family. The conference was unavailing, and the one side prepared for attack and the other for defense. It is not known who commanded the attacking party, nor how many were present. Some random firing was done on both sides, and the ' Slickers' attempted, but unsuccessfully, to fire the house. It was then determined to make an assault, batter down the door, and make short work of the matter. Malachi Davis was the first man to enter; he received a bullet in the bowels, from the effect of which he died the next day. John Davis, his brother, rushed forward, thrust his pistol under the chin of James Turnbull, Jr., and fired. The latter fell, apparently dead, but finally recovered, except a partial paralysis which rendered him an invalid for life. Davis then raised his rifle and put a ball into the hip of Squire Turnbull, which caused his death some weeks afterward. Wash- ington Norwell came in by the side of John Davis. As he crossed the threshold, one of Turnbull's girls cleft his skull with a corn- knife. The wound was about six inches long, and extended an inch down the forehead, penetrating the brain and involving a considerable loss of its substance. Norwell fully recovered. He died a few years ago. The 'Slickers' retired without accom- plishing anything further.
" This affair caused great excitement, and a company of 'an- ti-Slickers' was organized the next day in the vicinity of Flint Hill, St. Charles County, for the avowed purpose of protecting the Turnbull family, and checking the excesses of the regulators. This company made several incursions into this county, removed
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the Turnbulls to Flint Hill, and maintained guards and pickets on the fords of Cuivre. On one occasion the . Slickers ' gathered in a force to drive them from this county, and made a rapid march to where the ' antis' were supposed to be, but arrived an hour too late. One evening Joseph L. Woodson and James Bur- dyne were coming from Troy, and just opposite Mont. Cottles', Burdyne a few feet behind, sitting sideways, was telling about a game of poker that he had gotten into that day: ' I had,' said he, ' three jacks and a pair of aces, and '-when the report of fire- arms rang out, and the blaze from the gun was seen in the bushes on the side of the road. Neither was hurt, but they quickened their pace considerably, and the luck of the three jacks and pair of aces was never told. After riding a hundred yards, Burdyne remembered that he had a horseman's pistol, and proposed to go back and 'give 'em ashot,' but he was overruled. That same even- ing William Holmes and his brother were riding into the gate of their uncle, Levi Bailey, when they were fired upon by two men, one ball wounding a horse and one penetrating the clothes of the other rider. Some time after this James Shelton, who had been the captain of the 'anti-Slickers,' was in Chain of Rocks, and, as he was crossing the river in a skiff, had his arm fractured by a shot from the bank. When the legitimate purpose for which the regulators had been formed was accomplished, the organization was disbanded, but it was a long time before the animosities en- gendered by the civil strife died out."
THE CIVIL WAR.
Upon the approach of the war of 1861-65 the sentiment of a large majority of the people of Lincoln County was undoubted- ly in favor of the Southern cause, though, perhaps, the majority was not in favor of a disruption of the Union, as it is true that the county elected delegates to the State Convention, held in Jefferson City, February 28, 1861, who were in favor of the Union. After the inauguration of President Lincoln, and es- pecially after the first gun was fired, and the President made his first call for troops for the preservation of the Federal Govern- ment, the sentiment in favor of the Southern cause became more positive and outspoken, and for a time it was somewhat unsafe
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for a Union man to express his sentiments. Two companies of soldiers, commanded, respectively, by Capts. Thomas M. Car- ter and George Carter, were raised for the Confederate army, in the summer of 1861. In the fall of 1861 Col. John B. Hender- son brought his regiment, or a portion of it, to Troy, and took possession of the county. These were the first Federal troops brought to Troy. This put a stop to open recruiting for the Southern army ; however, recruiting for the Southern forces con- tinued in a quiet way for some time thereafter. Individuals or small squads continued to go out of the county and join organi- zations of that army at other points. Col. Hendersen continued to occupy Troy but a short time, and was then followed by other Federal forces. In 1862 Col. Krekle, of St. Charles, occupied Troy for a time, with a portion of his regiment. Later Capt. Mc Vaden, of Warren County, had a battalion of Federal troops in Troy, and in the winter of 1864-65 the town was occupied, for a time, by Capt. Kimpinski's company of the Forty-ninth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers. Afterward Col. Charles W. Parker, of the Thirty-seventh Enrolled Missouri Militia, commanded the post of Troy until the close of the war. He had it garrisoned alter- nately by the different militia companies of the county compos- ing his regiment.
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